Fellow bridal blogger Alyssa married her high school sweetheart, Zach, in a classy, old hollywood-styled wedding.

This wedding story is one of high school sweethearts, who dated on and off since the age of 16. Alyssa and Zach even chose their rustic venue because it was where Alyssa went to Girl Scout Camp when she was younger. During the wedding planning process, Alyssa found her calling. She began her own wedding planning agency and a wedding blog shortly after her own wedding. You can find Alyssa’s blog, Bride2BrideBlog at www.bride2brideblog.com/.

How he proposed: We got engaged in our new home that we purchased. One random day, he came into the bedroom, where I was sitting on the bed and dropped to his knee and said the most beautiful things, then he asked me to be his wife. I of course said yes and we began hugging and kissing and crying. It was absolutely perfect. It was a very fitting proposal for our personalities and our relationship.

Linens: Amazon and Ebay- Black sequin, ivory lace, black, and eggplant. The only linens we had were black sequin table runners on the head table, the card/gift table and the cake/candy table; The lace runners on the guest tables; The black tablecloths for the buffet tables and our eggplant napkins.

Photobooth: Alyssa constructed her own photobooth for the event, and it was a total hit at the party.

Wedding Dress: A Jasmine Bridal, fit and flare, strapless lace dress in Diamond White. I added straps to it that I made out of lace appliques I found on Etsy! I got it at Sincerely Yours Bridal.

Shoes: Black, jeweled flats from Target

Jewelry: I had a pearl bracelet from JcPenney, pearl earrings from Amazon, a hairpiece from my florist on Etsy (not my veil- my mom made that) and ruby stud earrings for my second hole that were my late grandmothers.

Rings:His ring came from Amazon and was $14, my wedding band came from Etsy and was $50!

Theme of wedding/ design aesthetic:We didn’t exactly have a theme. Our venue was rustic, but none of our décor was. It was kind of vintage/old hollywood glamour.

Colors: Black and White with pops of eggplant and silver

Flowers & Centerpieces:Silk eggplant orchid flowers from Joann’s, inside circular vases with pearls for filler, the orchids were submerged under water with floating candles. There were 3 different size vases on each table, the middle size had a pearl floating candle and the others had standard. They sat on square 10” mirrors and had 3 black-lace votives set around them along with a silver glitter table number.

Wedding Party: 3 bridesmaids, 3 groomsmen, 2 ring-bearer-dogs.

Bridesmaids Dresses:Christina Wu, my MOH/MOB had a v neck, all-black sequin gown with a tulle overlay. My girls had convertible neckline dresses that they each wore differently that had a sequin bodice and a tulle skirt.

Groomsmen:All had the same black suit, but the groom had an eggplant tie and black vest (as did our fur-baby/ring bearer), the groomsmen had black ties with no vest, the usher had a silver tie with no vest, and my Dad had a charcoal tie with no vest. (Savvi Formalwear)

You and your husbands’ wedding advice: I have too much advice, which is why I started my wedding blog! But the short of it is, enjoy your day! Don’t let others tell you what you should or shouldn’t do, it’s your wedding and you should make it you!

What did you do to save money?LOTS! I DIYed so much in my wedding to save money! I also saved money by doing my own makeup and nails and having my sister do my hair (of course, we are also hairstylists so this is a bit different)! My wedding band was only $50 on Etsy (and it has held up great so far and looks real next to my diamond engagement ring!) and his band was $14 on Amazon! Having my mom make my veil and my garter also saved me a ton and I thought they both turned out great! My shoes only cost $10! My dad is partial-owner of a restaurant/pub in my city and I was able to get a keg of beer for free from them!

What was your biggest splurge? I had a few. The most expensive things were my dress and photography. However, I don’t necessarily consider those a splurge because those are two things you want to spend more money on. As far as unnecessary things I spent money on, I paid way too much for my card box and my cake serving set, but that card box is being used as décor in my house now and I will use that cake serving set if I ever need it again. I also splurged on having a gourmet coffee company come out the morning after the wedding, but when guests can sleep in cabins on site, that was also pretty important!

Did you hand-make or DIY any wedding items?I made TONS of stuff for my wedding! All the signs were hand written, most were painted by us as well. My mom made my veil and my garter. I did my own makeup. The centerpieces were DIY, the lace table runners we cut and sewed, we had to halfway DIY my dogs tux because they just don’t make cute tuxes for bigger dogs! We bought the lace appliques to be my sleeves but we added more beading to them, and added the pearl extender for the back! I’m sure there is even more that I am not thinking of!

What was the biggest roadblock that you ran into while planning the wedding?I guess having to kick out one of my bridesmaids about a month before the wedding! That is a very long story, but that put a damper on things a bit.

Who/what gave you the most help in the planning process?Oh, for sure that has to be my mom! There is absolutely no way I could have done it without her! Not only did she make my veil, my garter and added beading and the extender pearls to my sleeves. She helped me make tons of signs, my programs box, my invitations, and so so so much more. She was also my maid of honor! She went to every single dress appointment with me, most of my appointments with vendors, drove the 1.5 hours 3 or 4 times with me to go look at the venue over and over again, calmed me down when I got stressed out. Honestly, I can’t even begin to cover everything that she helped me with. Also, I have to say AllSeated.com was one of the biggest helpers to me in the planning process!

How much influence did your family/ fiancé have in the planning process?My fiance had a lot of influence, but he also didn’t care about most of the details. Really, the only thing he specifically had in his head was the hairpiece for our flower girl (our dog Bailey). He had a very specific vision for that! My Mom had a lot of influence on everything to do with the wedding as well, she had a lot of wonderful ideas and I was happy to let her have that influence!

Which part of the process gave you the most stress?Every part! Just kidding…kind of. I really don’t know that I could really pick even one or two things out though. It was all very stressful, but also very worth it!

What did you do that you found helped out with stress the best?Deep breathing and bubble baths! Also, my fiance giving me lots of massages!

Is there anything that didn’t go as planned?There was a lot that didn’t go as planned…The day before the wedding we had an 85% chance of rain for the entire day! I was very lucky, that on the actual wedding day, it only rained until about 11AM and then it cleared up, so we were still able to have the ceremony outside! I almost wasn’t ready on time. There was still so much to do with the space that I had a hard time locating my bridesmaids and making them get ready. My sister was our hairstylist, so since she was running behind, it set me back pretty far since she had to get ready, and get me ready. I’m pretty sure the ceremony started on time, if it didn’t it was maybe 5 minutes later than it was supposed to start. Luckily I had built a little extra time here and there into my timeline. Also because we were running behind, some of the decor didn’t get set out, none of it was a big deal. Mainly just my decor for the ceremony space. But that’s because it was outdoors and it rained until 11!

If you could go back in time, what would you have changed? I would have hired a videographer for sure. I hate that it’s only months after my wedding and I can’t even remember his vows. I also would have spent more time on my vows, I ended up rushing them at the last minute and I regretted one little part.

Most Memorable moment:So many, but top few would have to be…The photobooth. I know that’s weird, but I had a great time in that photo booth with my husband, and with all my family that I don’t see often. Also, the night before we had girls night in one of the cabins. It was me, my mom/moh, my sister and my 3 cousins that live very far away from me that I hardly ever get to see. We stayed up until 3AM talking and laughing. Also, our first look. Getting a private moment between just the two of us before walking down the aisle was the BEST decision.

Alyssa, thank you so much for sharing your wedding day with us – it was beautiful!